Norcold DE 61 electrical hookup

[Gamechanger]

I've just installed a brand new Norcold DE 61 fridge/freezer unit. After anchoring out for only 2 days the Norcold simply failed to start even though the house battery bank was only down to 12.3 volts. Ran the generator and the Norcold kicked in and remained working until house voltage was down to about 12.3 volts the next day.
I have run the power to the Norcold with 8 gauge wire from the electrical panel. Power to the entire panel comes from a battery switch with 4 gauge wire, and power to the battery switch comes from a house bank (1275 AH) through a 1 gauge wire. I've measured the voltage at each connection point along the way and.... as expected there is some voltage loss. Connections are tight and clean. Voltage never got below 11.8 at the fridge even when fridge running and when drawing power for other uses (lights, radio, water pump). Norcold claims that fridge will work until voltage gets down to 10.5 volts so I'm rather frustrated.
Norcold documentation SPECIFIES connecting the unit directly to the battery bank. I will try that and I do anticipate that situation will improve however I don't like powering things directly from the batteries. I believe that power should go though a breaker panel.
Have others encountered this problem?? If yes, what have you done to address it?

[bobnlesley]

We bought a Norcold 30 just a few weeks ago, plugged into a handy cigar-lighter socket and no joy; disconnected and re-connected via HEAVY wires to the battery and no problems since. We weren't surprised as we built a fridge unit using a Waeco unit on our last boat and found that they like short and heavy supply wires; whilst the general draw isn't too bad, they need a good supply of amps for the initial start-up of the motor.